Is Sleep Deprivation Making You Look and Act Old Before Your Time

It May Not Be an Illusion but All Too True

For the last few years, my husband has struggled with sleep apnea, snoring and the dreaded sleep deprivation that accompanies these condition. He has a C-Pap machine, a device that keeps his airways open, and that certainly helps. Having just come back from a routine check-up and readjustment of that machine, we learned some things. I researched the information to learn more.

One of the things the doctor noted, in passing, was that sleep deprivation, even without snoring, can speed up the aging process. Huh? I thought, being too sleep-deprived to have a more articulate question come immediately to mind. The doctor's comments gave me pause, thinking of all the sleepless nights we'd both spent rocking sick babies, worrying about our sons out on the road late at night or simply brooding over tax forms. Even my sleep-deprived mind could figure out that we'd lost a lot of sleep!

I wanted to know more. How much older did this make us? Was it possible for a 30 year old woman to be running around with the mind and body of a 70 or 90 year old - simply because of lack of sleep? Not that I'm 30 but I can dream, hopefully while I am actually asleep and not behind the wheel of a car or while dozing off some other time.

What I discovered was a bit alarming. While I can't go back and make up for the sleep deprivation I've lost, perhaps I could do something about it now, if only to slow that aging process a bit. So here's what I know, to the best of my sleep-deprived mind:

Sleep deprivation can make people look older

Since I consider myself a "people" (oops, I mean "person", must have been the tired part of my brain typing there)....the bottom line is that lack of sleep can keep your body from repairing the countless tiny or major insults it gets every day, from that sore knee after exercise to the new skin cells that give your face a youthful glow. As you age, sleep alone won't solve all those issues but lack of sleep can worsen them.

You can find out more about that here: www.sleep-deprivation.com/